BftRB Presents: Grind Shop Vol. 2 (Strangeland Mix)

Turning Myself Nto Energy - Axis (France)

Witch's Wand - Luv Machine (Barbados)

Sul Tuo Letto Di Morte - I Giganti (Italy)

Snuki - Omega (Hungary)

You've Got Freedom - Joel Dayde (France)

Vambo Marble Eye - The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (Scotland)

Liar - Kin Ping Meh (Germany)

Se Non E' Amore Cos'e' - Formula 3 (Italy)

Fluid - Twink (England)

*Note: Just like the Olympics but w/o drug testing!!!

Special thanks to M. (Vinyl Dog) Poletti for the hook-up.

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BftRB Presents: Grind Shop Vol. 2 (Strangeland Mix)


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Call me Skeptical...

Yeah. I’m just not really ‘feelin’ Christmas this year. I mean, the day after Halloween I was already being choked-out by tinsel and red felt @ the local drugstore. More and more I fear there is not ample time for decompression between the Holidays and, as such, I think I’ll sit Christmas out this year (Don’t wanna get the Holiday bends and burst a blood-vessel, now do we?). Still, I am the giving sort, and in the interests of comity, I give you a healthy dose of SKEPTICism from Bartlesville OK circa 66’

From the G200 website:

"hands-down prize for 60's group with the most utlrarare picture sleeve 45's goes to Oklahoma's Skeptics, with a total of 3 ULTRA rare picture sleeves, each known in a quantity of less than 10 copies. Much less. This one, "Apple Candy", is probably the second-rarest, with around 5 copies known. The hands-down rarest is their release on Thrush, with only one copy with picture sleeve having ever been found. However the existence of a fourth sleeve, "Bit O' Honey" (Scratch) is now in doubt. Although listed in many discographies, no-one has ever actually seen it. We doubt it exists."

Now, if only I had the picture sleeve...

Apple Candy - Skeptics

Ride Child - Skeptics

Note: Special thanks to Gregorious from HPRS who - in a moment of greed and weakness - sold me this killer-diller disc!

Bo Diddley & 'Crack': The Straight Dope

Hey all. Regular non-denominational posting will begin forthwith, but first let me get a couple of requests out of the way. First, I finally got around to typin’ up a big wordy track list for the BftRB Presents: Revenge of “Things That Go 1-4-5 in the Night” Mix. Give it a gander and put a name to your favorite tune's fractured face. Second, I’ve included, as promised, the flipside to both the Yo Yo’s Raven disc, titled ‘Crack In My Wall’ as well as the really cool flip to the ‘Trance’ by Count Drac; a filthy-ass cover of Bo Diddley’s ‘Bo Diddley’. So in lieu of diddlin’ yourselves…

Crack in My Wall – Yo Yo's

Hey Bo Diddley – Count Drac

I've Become A Warlock Just For Spite.

Ever notice how the blogosphere – particularly that sliver of musical devotees of who’s ranks I myself patronize – set a store by obscurity? Whether it be some nameless acetate or vanity press, we (and I am as guilty as the next) tend to gravitate towards the obscure without recognizing that mainstream record labels are just as capable of releaseing bizarre platters, many of which have just as little redeeming social value as your average Susbsidary tax shelter or mafia-run narcotics front (Thank god).

Now that Poe has set the tone its time to roll up our jeans and get knee-deep in October Country. Bet you had no idea that October Country is in Canada, right? Me neither. I assumed, like everybody else that ‘My Girlfriend is a Witch’ owed its debt to Hanna Barbera, the song featured prominatly in the short-lived cartoon the ‘Cattanooga Cats’ (See below). As it turns out October Country were a full on sunshine-pop band who failed to crack the canuk market w/ their beatles-esque harmonies and thick instrumentation, finally sliding one off of American Staurday morning culture w/ this ode to a winsome witch.



Hard to say which version excels (HB v. OC), several crime fighting, bell-bottomed cartoon cats not withstanding (HB were always a one-trick pony). But in all fairness, I have sat many a time, bleary-eyed @ the Court Tavern watching the Impossibles silently on the T.V. in lieu of whatever shitty band was sulking in the basement, proslytivzing about their problems like we all ain't got our own (It is a bar, after all). Point being, I might be slightly biased. But nobody can take can hope to encroach upon October Country’s green acres without getting the business end of a some round-bottomed bass and a witch’s broom. The Cats are just incidental.

My Girlfriend Is A Witch - October Country

Variations of a Theme: Take Thy Beak From Out My Blog!

Yes. It’s that time again! Time for BFtRB’s Halloween Spectacular (Suffer baby)! Normally I’d be eatin’ crow at this point of the day, but I opted to clear my plate for some stately Raven action. Dig. Edgar Allen Poe died much like he lived – Drunk in a gutter in Baltimore with more opium in his system than a Chinese Bangtail. Good on him as I have occasionally drank @ Baltimore’s Side-Bar Tavern and can attest to the fact that if the rats scamperin’ around the back alley don’t get you then the ‘Natty Bo’ will. Still, as far as ways of checkin’ out goes, it ain’t too bad for the legacy…oh, and I guess he also wrote some stuff to.



Dig the Raven, for instance. Not my favorite (That would be Masque of the Red Death), but an obstinate little poem that refuses to die, much like the titular character of Lenore (Tis the wind, and nothing more).

It really is no wonder, given the poems longevity that the Raven would come to perch upon popular music in similar fashion; an expedient way to jibb up a rhythmically sound song with little effort - which leads me to the NJ’s Glass Prism.



Much like the Electric Prune did w/ Psychedelic Mass, the Glass Prism managed to shave some time off their writing schedule by penning a concept album comprised entirely of POEms, of which the Raven naturally finds it way as the title track. Yeah, it’s a little slice o’ melodrama, but the corners are still sharp enough to get bent on. RCA records ‘Poe for Moderns’ pulls much the same trick, though it champions a much more 50's beat feel as opposed to the ‘Prisms’ circa 74' psychedelic chicanery.

The real money in this trifecta, however, is Brooklyn NYs the Yo Yos (yeah, its a stupid name) who manage to crank out a decidedly heavier take on the same Raven narrative, though the flip, ‘Crack In the Wall’ ain’t nothing to sneeze at neither, especially when one considers the thinly veiled references to ‘Fall of the House of Usher’ (Is it just me?).




Far from fallin, I got a bucket full of Halloween junk comin’ your way the entire month of October, cracks and all…and I don’t nary mind all the noise. Until then…

The Raven - Yo Yo's

The Raven - Glass Prism

The Raven - Buddy Morrow Orchestra

Bonus: He's a weird radio promotional spot for Pittsburgh Paints w/ a particular emphasis on POE. Dig.

Where the Wild Things Is...er, Are.

If I were to say the phrase ‘Wild Thing’ and visions of feuding Troggs crept into your mind, then I’d say you stand w/ most music aficionados. If, consequently, visions of Denise Richards and Neve Campbell dikeing out w/ Matt Dillon from the Outsiders permeate your grey matter, then I’d say you watch too much Showtime Late nite and are an unapologetic pervert. In this case either one is perfectly acceptable, as the Wild Things I’m sellin are of neither camp, yet at the same time, decidedly camp -a terminally obscure, if not, unknown variety of hair-hopping garage punk monsters.

Don’t believe me? Dig the pix. I mean, these guys look like a cross between Johnny Suede, Sleazy P. Martini (from GWAR) and Congo Powers. The later, in particular, as majority of the members are of Mexican extraction, doing there best Tav Falco, sporting Gomez Addams moustaches and Teddy boy frocks.



While decidedly ‘Drape’ in appearance, these hombres are straight up amateur night garage punk, if their first single ‘Weird Hot Night (Suffer Baby) is any indication. I see this track turn up on some of the more obscure private press comps- a rare gem considering how close to the bottom of the barrel we’ve come with regards to good, unreleased garage punk tracks. The flip ain’t no slouch either, with both tracks exhibiting low production values without even the slightest regard for technicality, a surprise given Gary Us Bonds involvement in SQRLs production

The third track enclosed, Old Lady, tends to complicate matters, as this later incarnation (69’) of Wild Thing is widely regarded to be the same band as the previous single, though I can find no definitive copy to back that up (Fuck it. I’ll just assume and make an ass out of me). Despite what the mile-high hair and shtick might suggest, Wild Thing were not a studio creation, but were signed by Electra at the behest of a scene headhunter, a full length LP of covers rounding out their single input – a move ultimately considered an embarrassing failure by the Electra production team – never quite living up to the intensity of their previous singles.

While I might spare you the horrors of this lack-luster lp, these singles represent the unhinged talent (and follicles) of a true, grass-roots project - unfettered by the demands of a major label and free to let their hair down, or up, as this ridiculous picture seems to suggest.

Weird Hot Nights (Suffer Baby) – Wild Thing

Don’t Fool With My Girl – Wild Thing

Old Lady – Wild Thing

P.S. Special thanks to Vinyl Dog (Oddly enough, his real name)for inadvertantly sending me on a Wild (Thing)Goose-chase

Shameless Self-Promotion

Available NOW from GO APE! records.

"Prepare yourself for the all new release from Go Ape Records: three rug-cutters from New Jersey's favorite hellions, the Brimstones! In the grand tradition of records that don't suck, the Brimstones new 45 lifts and separates like a bullet bra for your soul. This is a very limited release, so get it while it's white hot. It's more fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys and only costs your sanity."

...And I Don't Work For Nobody But You.

Even though Halloween is Kaputsville (And Thanksgiving is apparently only a week off!?), that’s no reason that ole’ RB can’t drop a monster squarely on your head…

Is it Funk? Is it Psych? Is it soup yet? Who knows? A better question would be can you spin this 71’ offering from Trinidad’s fortunate sons and not bump & grind yer tail feathers into pillow stuffin? Seriously, this record is enormous!



From what I gather the proper British press on Polydor goes for pounds of, uh… pounds on the other side of the pond (Don’t even ask about the LP), hence why I went with a French picture sleeve, but don’t let it’s nationality fool you, this shit shows no sign of surrendering. You might as well just repurpose that white flag into a diaper, cause you are gonna shit yourself. Seriously, suck on this witches wand and you’ll dig my meanin’.

P.S. Thanks to Tommy Brimstone for turnin’ me on to this junk.

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Witches Wand – Luv Machine

Happy Children – Luv Machine

Lock & Loll!!!

I'm sending this one out to Professor Grewbeard (I'm gonna need to see credentials, professor) over @ Magic Carpet Burns on account of his affection for the Land of the Rising Sun.

One can't spin hip Japanese culture w/o Takeshi Terauchi much like one can't really begin to wrap their grey matter around Japanese popular music unless one consider the previously posted death of Ventures co founder Bob Bogle. Yes, the Ventures were that big; big enough to squash the Beatles w/o so much as Brighton scowl or a Liverpudlian lip-quiver. Why? Because the Ventures are painfully pasty Caucasian models of musical efficiency. Needless to say, the Japanese swallowed these Tacoma boys feet first (there goes that over-achiever stereotype again). Then there are, of course, the myriad of Asian acts(Both good and patently ridiculous) which followed in the Ventures more-than capable wake. But as w/ any master/teacher relationship, the new guard must best the old, applying methods both contemporary and traditional in an attempt to outshine their predecessor.

Yes, Takeshi Terauchi is that good



Perhaps it is the loose playing, Takeshi dive bombing that Bigsby and bending those notes into configurations the Ventures would be want to explore. More than likely it is Takeshi's observance of traditional Japanese scales as played on the Koto, an instrument whose essence has been fully adopted into Terauchi's musical style much as it has the pervading culture in the form of Eliki music. Regardless of the particulars, this SOB can sure hang an axe!

I'm Not Quite Sure What This Song is About - Takeshi Terauchi

I Think This Song is About the Beach - Takeshi Terauchi

Note: Special thanks goes out to Amy & Mike over @ Fancy magazine and Go Ape Records for furnishing me w/ this lovely 45rpm while on their travels in the far east. Much obliged!

"Squirt gunfights in the dark, shrieks from the kitchen"

“Possessed people, reaching a once-distant goal, almost close enough now to touch. Squirt gunfights in the dark, shrieks from the kitchen, Brookey-poo down the hall. Nights in hotels, endless bars, a year and a half getting tight; now the precious moments on stage, when all is right and their music is real and we all become sound an electricity for a too-soon ended instant. The road home is dark and lonely. Few make it.”

– Robert Rouse (From the liner Notes of 'Country Funk')

Lets get this outta the way right off the bat. The record is neither country, nor funk. It ain't even Funktry, which is strange concidering I just made the word up (Surfabilly anyone?). Rural-Psych is another classification which I've heard bandied about, but that makes even less sense. What it is, consequently, is a heavy hybrid. Accustic and fuzz-ladden in the same breath. This 1970 release is both the debut and swansong these LA vagabonds . Overly sentimental, but w/ a little crack of doom, it certainly is a strange cross-polinization in the Moby-Grape kinda vein. Apparently Beck sampled this LP on the Odelay album. Confirm, or deny!?

"Oftentimes when a new group comes out, people pay attention to the wrong things. A group's music is frequently ignored and too much importance is placed on irrelevancies. The color of Country Funk's collective eyes or if they dig pizza and ice cream really don't matter. What matters is that they are into music and music has brought them together.

In the spring of '68 the group, consisting of Hal Paris, Adam Taylor, Joe Pfeifer and Jeff Lockwood, headed for the West Coast to cut an album and take it from there. This was a reunion for Hal and Adam, because they had been together in a group back in the eighth grade and at different times later in their careers. After some rehearsing they auditioned at Kaleidoscope. Amps blew, tempers flew, there was trouble with the p.a. and the audition flopped. Some weeks later they did a stint of five weeks at Gazzari's on the Strip in the summer of '68.

Autumn came and the group broke up; Hal and Adam stayed in Hollywood, trying to get a new thing going. A formidable song-writing team, the nucleus of COUNTRY FUNK, was formed. They found James Lanham through an ad in Wallach's Music City and began rehearsing with Joe Pfeifer. A week before their first gig Joe split and Verne Johnson, whom they met through the Union, took over the drums. They came to Vermont in the winter of '68 to play the ski clubs. When they left, Verne had split and Joe was back. Then it was off to Amherst to play the Woodrose Ballroom. This started the group giving concerts and led to Cambridge for the summer of '69, where they soon became part of the Boston scene. Ray Paret of Amphion Productions put them on the road back to L.A. and the Record Plant to produce their debut album on Polydor. While it was being cut, Joe split again and Verne, who was floating, came back to the Funk, bringing all the original members together once more.

With the release of their first album, COUNTRY FUNK stood the way it started: with Adam Taylor playing lead guitar, Hal Paris on piano and rhythm guitar, Jim Lanham playing bass and steel guitar, and Verne Johnson playing drums and jews harp. They are together and from here, let their music speak for them."

- original press release, 1970

When I'm Without You - Country Funk

Poor Boy - Country Funk

Apart of Me - Country Funk

Are You Ready?

From Bill Fay to Jenny...


The stars at night may be big and bright, but the guitar chops of this San Antonio psych combo could use a little stove polish to bring the shine out. Hard to imagine the guitar-face that went along with the tasty lix on this solo attempt, but rest assured, it's loose in all the right places, and inept enough to make you thank your lucky stars for rock and/or roll. Flip this disc over and dig a pretty thorough ham-stringing of Carlos Santana, complete w/ bongos and by-the-book B-3. And as an added bonus, you get the whole shebang laced-up on 'Skate' records. I tells ya, I can almost taste the stale pizza and Pepsi. Just don't get you skates caught in the floor-length urinal. Chicken Dance anyone?

Are You Ready? - United

Amor - United

Pussy-Whipped in Rhode Island

Only the addition of big honkin' guitars could've ever gotten the redux of this sappy 66' love dirge across Tim Warren's desk and into the annals of BFTG. If the original version - presented here- seems a tad dandified it's because Rhode Island's Malibus hadn't yet gotten around to futzin' w/ the AM formula by way of some cowbell and a liberal dollop of germanium-fueled excess.

Yup, these kids actually put a lot of effort into murdering their nice little ditty for subsequent re-release on 'Planet' records. Is the version which appears of BFTG vol 1 superior? Beats me, but plenty of people with funny haircuts tend to think so. Personally, I think they're both aces (and you ain't even seen my haircut).One things for sure, these kids sure grew a pair between cuts.

Let this be a lesson to you romantic types out there w/ your silk handkerchiefs and your "feelings" - You may catch more flies w/ honey than you do w/ vinegar, but you can catch even more w/ crap.

Cry - Malibus

David's Current Mood: Anger.

Ok, so you are Jack Ely, the singer of Portland Oregon's own watered-down Wailers, the Kingsmen. Now, you ain't no sap. You've been kickin' the shit just long enough to know that playing this Rock and/or Roll junk in some crappy little band is just never going to cut the mustard. Taking matters into your own adolescent hands, you drop your band mates like a two-dollar pistol (or, if it pleases you, a twenty dolla' ho) for the life-affirming embrace of college (Yuck!)

There you are, on the fast track w/ your keggers and your Cardigans, when a certain Boston DJ blows the dust off one of your previous band's old singles and Bang! You ex-band mates got America by the short-hairs w/ their hit version of Richard Berry's 'Louie Louie', and you got 'Advanced Calculus' and your dick in your hand.

But not to fear! Your old band would always take you back right? Wrong! They are, after all, the mighty Kingsmen, and even though you sneered your way through their hit single, they tell you, in a decidedly kingly fashion, to hit the bricks before they crown ya.



So, picking yourself up and dusting yourself off, you do the only thing a musician of that time could do, you form your own goddamned Kingsmen, and when that doesn't pan out you rustle up some 'Courtmen' and cut your own 'Louie'(b/w a catchy little instro dubbed 'David's Mood') on the McCoy's old alma mater, 'Bang!' Records, and what happens next?

I'll give you a hint: THEY SPELL YOUR FUCKIN" NAME WRONG ON THE DISC!

Still...I guess it could be worse. I mean, you could be Pete Best. Poor Pete.

David's Mood - Jack Eely & the Coachmen

One If By Land! Two If By Turntable!

Do you know what it's like to search the interwebs for the terms 'Spirit of 76' and 'Revolution' in tandem? I'll give you a hint - Fuckin' nightmare! Coupled w/ the fact that the A:side is called 'The Ballad of Ethan Allen' and you can just about fully fathom how much of a hens tooth this 68' disc is turning out to be. As the flip implies, Revere's Raiders were pretty soundly aped for this enterprise. No doubt riding boots and ruffled shirts were involved in some capacity.

Yeah, it sounds like It was recorded inside a tri-cornered hat, but beneath the fog of war is some top-notch guitar work in this militia's call to arms. Imitation being the sincerest, yadda, yadda, yadda this soulful track packs a patriot punch right below your rifle sling. Better cup your 'Dragoons'!

Note: I think we'll save the A:side for a season a little more 'Rocket's Red Glare-ish'.

Call on Me - The Spirit of 76' Music Revolution

"I've Got to Know the Girl in the Miniskirt"

With summer winding down and the coming autumn exuding it’s cooling influence over exposed midriffs and chilly knees alike, the time has invariably come to say goodbye to the minskirt as the come-hither garment of choice for choice chicks.


(sigh) As much as it pains me to say it, there is a definite correlation between the yearly harvest and a very noticeable decrease in the ratio of knee-high boots to pleated Skirts; even stocking are adversely affected.

Though the 'Sunshine State' has never suffered such a seasonal shortage, that didn’t stop California natives ‘The Flower Children’ from making the socially conscious choice and penning this public service announcement extolling the virtues of that ever-present garment.

Simultaneously pressed on both Allied and Castil , all signs point to a 67' release on this, the bands only cut. Once you get passed all the beaded, unwashed activism implied by such a name, 'Flower Children' actually becomes quite apropo, especially when you consider the fact that it sounds like a bunch of kids playing four different songs at once.

A slight technicality when you consider the strong overall message:

"She Did the 'Coffee Grind' and the 'Buffalo Flirt'. That tantalizing temptress in the Miniskirt."

Mini-Skirt Blues - Flower Children

Marching Lovers - Flower Children

Mashmakhan!!!

@ the tail end of a merciless weekend record bender comes this firebrand...

Like the succinctly named Boffalongo, the mouthful of Canadian mush known as Mashmakhan certainly doesn't paint itself into any corners. From buzzy psych to baroque poofery, influences abound in the 1970 debut of these enigmatic million-sellers.

Pierre Senecal, Brian Edwards, and Rayburn Blake formed their first band in 1960 as teens and played local Montreal dance halls and perform on the local scene under the band names like the Phantoms, Ray Blake's Combo, and the Dominoes. In 1965 they were still playing together but with the addition of another Montrealer, Gerry Mercer, who stepped in to replace Edwards (who left the band for a short while). When Edwards returned to the band, Mercer stayed on to make it a quartet, and by now they were calling themselves the Triangle and backing up Montreal R&B singer Trevor Payne. They continued in this vein until 1969, when producer Bob Hahn recognized their talent and took them to Toronto, then the music capitol of Canada, and helped them get signed with Columbia Records. The name of the band was changed to Mashmakhan, after a type of drug being peddled by a local dealer, to become more hip with the young people, and the journey began. Pierre Senecal's "As Years Go By" was released as a single in an edited form, and became the group's first hit. The single sold 100,000 copies in Canada, 500,000 copies in the U.S., and over 1,000,000 copies in Japan, which led to a Beatlemania-like tour for the band in the latter country; it received much publicity and made Mashmakhan an international success story. The band followed the hit with two singles, "Gladwyn" and "Days When We Are Free." In 1970 Mashmakhan released its debut self-titled album, containing the three singles in alternate form, to international critical acclaim. Mashmakhan was one of two contributors to the musical score of the 1971 NFB film Epilogue/Fieve and recorded the song "Couldn't Find the Sun" for the movie. Then, for some unknown reason, the bottom fell out. Mashmakhan's second album, The Family, was released in 1971, and bombed; fan support was lost, and despite a couple of good singles, they did not have the right formula to make it back to the top. Although the album did sell well in Japan, the band split up shortly thereafter. ~ Keith Pettipas

For space reason (Compounded by abject laziness) I have cherry-picked some of the heavier tracks off the LP, but with its thick key work and expressive guitar leads, the entire record richly deserves your patronage. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy before it suffers a similar fate as the Gospel According to Zeus - i.e. Gets gobbled up as prime break beat real-estate.

Warning: Don't let the fluffy quality of the tracks fool you. You're about to get punched in the kidneys.

Days When We Are Free - Mashmakhan

Afraid of Losing You - Mashmakhan

'Weird' in all the right ways.

All Politik aside, lets get down to brass tacks...

This record rules, not that you would know it from its modest label. Besides being cut in Arizona (all that heat must have warped their little minds), I know nothing about this fuzzy beast. I'd place it around 67' or 68', but even that is a wild stab in the vitals. The flip is a real cool textured psych love nod (thought I wish they had kicked the Wah peddle into the mix a little more). Certainly no sloucher, give 'Clease" a chance!

The Weird One - Clease

Naturally - Clease

Simple Minded Harlequin

I have to admit, I'm kinda on the fence about this one.

On one hand, its has a certain charm in its willful irreverence and general whimsical tone. One the other hand, any intimacy and somber quality that might be expected from a folk / psych album is somewhat rudely disrupted by singer Elyse Weinberg, who sounds a lot like Gilda Radner doing her best weekend update

I understand that some people who marvel at ineptitude might take that as a ringing endorsement (Myself Included), but all quaintness aside, sometimes this chick is just downright unpalpable. She does have her moments though.

"Born and raised in Canada, Weinberg emerged from the same mid-'60s Toronto folk scene that launched the careers of Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. And like some of her famous colleagues, she found herself in Los Angeles, although initially just to visit Young. Then she ended up staying a while with another acquaintance, Mama Cass Elliott of the Mamas & Papas. W

The recording of "Elyse" was, she {weinberg} says, "over the top," with "no one producing anything. It reflected the times." Indeed, a listen today reveals a certain inspired insanity that is partly accountable for such a superb, occasionally stunning LP, an attention-grabbing mixture of death-fixated medieval folk, imaginative pop arrangements and very 60's psychedelic rock. Weinberg and her session band, an L.A. group called Touch, sound as alluringly sloppy as Janis Joplin's Big Brother & the Holding Company on some tracks, then follow those up with meticulously arranged, affecting love songs. Lyrically, it's a timely record, as the gallows humor and mortality obsessions seem perfectly suited to the ugliness that pervaded American society as the Sixties drew to a close. You can practically smell the dreadful anticipation of Tate-LaBianca and Altamont in the song's less-than-rosy scenarios.

"Elyse" sold fairly well upon its release, reaching #31 on the Billboard album chart. Tetragrammaton performed its publicity duties, taking out full-page ads in Billboard and other publications. Harlan Ellison wrote about her in his column for the alternative paper the L.A. Weekly, and Newsweek featured her alongside Mitchell and Laura Nyro in a profile on the emergence of solo female songwriters, a rarity up until that point, Odetta and Joan Baez notwithstanding. She played big L.A. clubs such as the Troubadour and did her stints on the festival circuit. Weinberg even played Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," which, considering her wild-haired appearance and intense music, must have been quite a trip for last-night TV America".

It’s hard to choose a track or two that is indicative of the album, as the record is all over the Middle-Earth map. I have attempted to approximate the Elyse experience with a trifecta of sounds, namely Psych, Country and Heavy.

Maybe this will finally satisfy my own Midieval mind about Mrs. Weinberg (I'm currently on the 'Yay' side of the 'Neigh').

If Death Don't Overtake Me - Elyse Weinberg

Iron Works for Rent She Cried - Elyse Weinberg

Mortuary Bound - Elyse Weinberg

Any Friend of Lucifer's is a Friend, Etc, Etc...

Grabbed this off the wall at a local record saloon on the strength of their first LP (self titled 1970). While just as heavy as it's predecessor, 1975's 'Blues' has a decidedly more prog vibe going on, especially an overindulgence of piano (Think Vladimir Horowitz) and strings (a seduction plaguing many a sophomore offering). While certainly a turn-off for most (myself included), 'Friend' uses such production to good effect, especially when coupled w/ an arsenal of minor discordant changes and the occasional falsetto vocal (a good five years before fashion dictated it, I might add)

"German group Lucifer’s Friend has its roots in one German and one English band. Peter Hecht (keyboards), Dieter Horns (bass and backing vocals), Peter Hesslein (guitar and backing vocals) and Joachim Reitenbach (drums) played until early 1970 together in a band called "German Bonds". In November 1970, the four of them started recording, it was after the recording of the backing tracks that John Lawton came in. He played with his own group "Stonewall" in the Top Ten Club in Hamburg. He recorded the lead vocals and in January 1971 they released their first album. John had previously released an album in 1970 on the German Decca label called Asterix with the members of German Bonds. It is also a fact that the members of "Lucifer’s Friend" recorded two other albums under the name of "Pink Mice" on the German budget label Europa. The band played classical themes on these albums in the style of the Dutch band "Ekseption". John Lawton was on these albums but was limited to backing vocals. It is also common knowledge that Hesslein and Hecht also worked for years with "The James Last Orchestra" and that John Lawton sang with "The Les Humphries Singers" when he was not recording with Lucifer’s Friend."

Here are two distinct offerings (one decidedly more theatrical than its Heavy counterpoint) from the hatchery that would one day loose 'Uriah Heep' on the head-cans of unsuspecting burn-outs.

Disclaimer: Those of you expecting to hear Glen Danzig on the enclosed track 'Mother' will be thoroughly disappointed, if not pleasantly surprised, but if you still need your fix, by all means...

Mother - Lucifer's Friend

Hobo - Lucifer's Friend

The Rocket Went So Fast, I Couldn't Hear the Blast!

My current fave.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know Garage Hangover got to it first. So sue me! I'm into even sharin'.

Doubtlessly inspired by the Apollo missions of the late 60's, this disc appeals to my love of both the cold, incalculable majesty that is outer space and the pissed off youth demographic. So irreverent that it could only truly be conceived by that rubics cube of non-linear thought - the teenage mind, 'Moon is one Heavenly-ass body.

Note: 'Moon', if you're listenin', you better give this kid his baby back before he breaks a Cuban-heel off in your crater-havin' ass

Straight outta Carolina (Does it really matter which one) circa 69' (or 70' if your a bettin' man), this is about as frantic as it gets.

Moon, Send My Baby - The Challengers